Henry Suso was born in 1295 and died in 1365.
His autobiography was published not long before his death. He is the poet of the
band. The romance of saintship is depicted by him with a strange vividness which
alternately attracts and repels, or even disgusts, the modern reader. The
whole-hearted devotion of the "Servitor" to the "Divine
Wisdom," the tender beauty of the visions and conversations, and the
occasional naivete of the narrative, which shows that the saint remained
very human throughout, make Suso's books delightful reading; but the accounts of
the horrible macerations to which he subjected himself for many years shock our
moral sense almost as much as our sensibilities; we do not now believe that God
takes pleasure in sufferings inflicted in His honour. Moreover, the erotic
symbolism of the visions is occasionally unpleasant: we are no longer in the
company of such sane and healthy people as Eckhart and Tauler. The half-sensuous
pleasure of ecstasy was evidently a temptation to Suso, and the violent
alternations of rapture and misery which he experienced suggest a neurotic and
ill-balanced temperament.[xxvi]
